March 10, 2016
The Goldman Prize winner community has joined together to issue the following statement in solidarity with fellow Prize recipient Berta Cáceres, following her death last week:
“Berta Cáceres, a Member of our Family, has been Assassinated”
We are the recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize and come from all corners of the world with the same goal, to protect the Earth and its natural resources. We are saddened and shocked at the death of one our sisters, Berta Cáceres, who was killed defending the land she and her ancestors have occupied for hundreds of years. Our hearts go out to her family and loved ones.
Berta was a member of the indigenous Lenca of Honduras and was devoted to her people and their rights to protect their homes and land from development. She lived her life in service to others with joy and kindness. As Berta said, “This best resistance is joy.” Being with Berta, it was impossible not to love her.
Berta was totally committed to defend the environment and human rights in her country. The organization she founded more than 20 years ago, the Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), was behind numerous struggles against mining and hydroelectric dams in Honduras. They succeeded in stopping large projects financed by international corporations and were attacked and threatened by military forces, para-military groups and corrupt politicians. When developers were blocked, Berta and her colleagues were attacked. Berta now joins eight others from COPINH who were killed before her.
Those who participated in her campaigns can give testimony to another rare quality she had: a woman with no fear at all. Berta was surrounded by threats and bullets, and at times, cars waiting for her in the road with armed men. But she continued to fight for human rights and the environment–women violated by their partners, children with malnutrition, and of course, the problems many of us worked on with her, unsustainable mining and hydroelectric dams. After knowing Berta’s work, it was impossible not to admire her.
Thousands of people from around the world have reacted, honoring Berta’s work and legacy. We cry out for a complete investigation into her murder. And in this moment, we remember the words of our brother who was also killed 20 years ago for fighting oil companies, Ken Saro-Wiwa, as he was about to be put to death: “Oh God, take my soul, but the struggle continues.”
Rest in peace, Berta.
In solidarity,
Ricardo Navarro, El Salvador 1995 Phyllis Omido, Kenya 2015
Lois Marie Gibbs, US/New York 1990 Ikal Angelei, Kenya 2012
Rossano Ercolini, Italy 2013 Myint Zaw, Myanmar 2015
Andrew Simmons, St. Vincent & Grenadines 1994 Jane Akre, US/Florida 2001
Atherton Martin, Dominica 1998 Thuli Makama, Swaziland 2010
Juan Pablo Orrego, Chile 1997 Laila Iskandar Kamel, Egypt 1994
Oscar Olivera, Bolivia 2001 Hugo Jabini, Suriname 2009
Tarcisio Feitosa da Silva, Brazil 2006 Christine Jean, France 1992
Sviatoslav Zabelin, Russia 1993 Azzam Alwash, Iraq 2013
Evgenia Chirikova, Russia 2010 Janos Vargha, Hungary 1990
Paul Alan Cox, Western Samoa 1997 Nat Quansah, Madagascar 2000
Olga Speranskaya, Russia 2009 Hilton Kelley, US/Texas 2011
Tuy Sereivathana, Cambodia 2010 Willie Corduff, Ireland 2007
Olya Melen, Ukraine 2006 Rudolf Amenga-Etego, Ghana 2004
Orri Vigfusson, Iceland 2007 Cath Wallace, New Zealand 1991
Humberto Rios Labrada, Cuba 2010 Elias Diaz Pena, Paraguay 2000
Fatima Jibrell, Somalia 2002 Ignace Schops, Belgium 2008
Steve Wilson, US/Florida 2001 Matthew Coon Come, Canada 1994
Bobby Peak, South Africa 1998 Janet Gibson, Belize 1990
Bruno Van Peteghem, New Caledonia 2001 Juan Mayr, Colombia 1993
Carlos Alberto Ricardo, Brazil 1992 Heffa Schucking, Germany 1994
Alexander Nikitin, Russia 1997 Ramesh Agrawal, India 2014
Prigi Arisandi, Indonesia 2011 Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor, Liberia 2006
Yuyun Ismawati, Indonesia 2009 Jean Wiener, Haiti 2015
Anna Giordano, Italy 1998 Vera Mischenko, Russia 2000
Yu Xiaogang, China 2006 Albena Simeonova, Bulgaria 1996
Rudi Putra, Indonesia 2014 Alexander Peal, Liberia 2000
John Sinclair, Australia 1993 Maria Elena Foronda Farro, Peru 2003
Lynn Henning, US/Michigan 2010 Kimberly Wasserman, US/ Illinois 2014
Father Edwin Gariguez, Philippines 2012 Odigha Odigha, Nigeria 2003
Craig Williams, US/Kentucky 2006 Michal Kravcik, Slovakia 1999
Howard Wood, Scotland 2015 Marc Ona Essangui, Gabon 2009
Feliciano dos Santos, Mozambique 2008 Manana Kochladze, Georgia 2004
Francisco Pineda, El Salvador 2011 Jadwiga Lopata, Poland 2002
Ka Hsaw Wa, Burma 1999 Maria Gunnoe, US/ West Virginia 2009
Marilyn Baptiste, Canada 2015 Tuenjai Deetes, Thailand 1994
Giorgos Catsadorakis, Greece 2001 Wadja Egnankou, Ivory Coast 1992
Dmitry Lisitsyn, Russia 2011 Randall Arauz, Costa Rica 2010
Myrsini Malakou, Greece 2001 Oscar Rivas, Paraguay 2000
Sarah James, US/Alaska 2002 Suren Gazaryan, Russia 2014
Ursula Sladek, Germany 2011 Desmond D’Sa, South Africa 2014
Marina Rikhvanova, Russia 2008 Eugene Rutagarama, Rwanda 2001
Jean La Rose, Guyana 2002 Bernard Martin, Canada 1999
Nohra Padilla, Colombia 2013 Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, Mongolia 2007
M.C. Mehta, India 1996 Rashida Bee & Champa Devi Shukla, India 2004
Medha Patkar, India 1992 Kaisha Atakhanova, Kazakhstan 2005
